


Sunshine (Pumpkins Light the Way)

by ModernArt2012



Category: Naruto
Genre: Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Pumpkin carving, Sumigakure Halloween Event 2017, Sunshine Princess Himawari, prompt 11
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 17:53:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12462849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ModernArt2012/pseuds/ModernArt2012
Summary: Prompt 11: Pumpkin carving with Sunshine Princess Himawari and the necessary materials to carve the perfect pumpkin.AKA - She’s adorable and needs more love. Please note she’s like 6-7 here, so if she sounds childish, that’s on purpose. Also note that this touches on the theme of the Uzumaki kids missing their dad, specifically Himawari who is overall more supportive of Naruto being away but still misses him and treats the idea of him maybe being home as exciting.





	Sunshine (Pumpkins Light the Way)

Carefully, Himawari picked up the large orange pumpkin she’d been allowed to pick out from the farmer’s field. She tottered a little under the weight, but this time she got to pick the pumpkin all by herself and she wouldn’t complain that she wanted Nii-chan here to carry it for her. She was sure this one was the biggest in the entire pumpkin patch and that it’d make the  _ best _ jack-o-lantern ever. 

 

“Mama, can I make this year’s carving a toad?” The weight was heavy, but not so much that she couldn’t carry it, even if she had to walk twice as fast to keep up with Mama. She was going to grow up to be an amazing kunoichi, and that meant she had to be strong and capable and never give up. That’s what Grandfather said, while she had been practicing her Byakugan with Aunt Hanabi. A strong, capable kunoichi who would do Konoha and her family proud. Grandfather is like that though, always so certain. She thinks it’s because he’s so proud of her and Bolt, even though Bolt doesn’t go to see him as much.  

 

“A toad?” Mama asked, looking so pretty in the morning light. “You said that you wanted to carve a fox last week.” They stopped by the flower vendor, because Papa was supposed to be home for dinner today and flowers were always nice. They made Papa smile, no matter how tired he was from being Hokage. The Auntie running the stand snuck her a sweet when Mama wasn’t looking.

 

“A toad. Papa and Nii-chan both like toads, and I do too.” That and the fox design was too much - nine tails and the directions said to peel off layers of the skin so certain parts were translucent instead of just cutting. Himawari was certain she’d need Mama’s help then, but she wants to do this pumpkin carving all by herself. That way she’d get to play with Nii-chan when he came home, instead of having to wait for him to carve the pumpkin. Maybe Papa would come in time for them to all play!

 

“You like toads? Be sure to tell Papa that, he’ll be happy.” Mama smiles and leads her down their street. She nodded excitedly, before carefully carrying the pumpkin into the house.  She’d laid out old newspaper and taken out the materials before they left, so she could get started immediately. 

 

Carefully, she traced the template on. Konohamaru-nii had been super helpful in drawing the pattern for her to trace and carve, and so had Gamagorō-san in posing, so she had to do her best! Everyone would see it, after all. Including Papa, Himawari had been sure to get the biggest pumpkin so that Papa would be able to see it from the Hokage Tower, even if he couldn’t see it up close. It would be the best pumpkin ever!

 

“Himawari-chan, it’s time for lunch!” Mama called from the kitchen. The pattern looked good, the black lines marking the cuts clear enough to follow. She washed her hands at the sink before slowly cutting the apples. On a whim she made them into little rabbits; they were so cute with their little ears! Himawari ate lunch carefully, contemplating the pumpkin on the floor. It was still slightly wrong somehow, “Mama, what do you think gama-kun on the pumpkin is missing?” No matter what she thought of, there wasn’t anything fundamentally wrong with the design. Maybe she should try looking underneath the underneath like Rokudaime-jiji was always saying? Was that only applicable for ninja? 

 

Mama looked over the design while she cut off the top. Her fingers ghosted over the design, the dots outlining the shape of Gamagorō-san sitting up. “I don’t know, Himawari-chan. Maybe Papa or Boruto-kun can help figure that out?”

 

Himawari pouted over her miso soup, “No! I want to finish this before they get home so we can play!” She finished her food and thanked for the meal, then carried her plates to the sink for Mama to clean. She still wasn’t old enough to wash the dishes, since they got so slippery with water. 

 

After a long moment, she picked up the spoon and started cleaning out the guts. She knew everyone else always did that the opposite way, first cleaning the guts and seeds then putting on the design, but Mama said that Papa messed up the order when Nii-chan was little and now it was tradition. They didn’t have many Papa-traditions, ‘cause Yondaime-ji-chan and Obaa-chan died when Papa was a baby, but that was okay, ‘cause Mama’s family had lots of really old traditions and it all balanced out. Himawari patted out the mound of guts, making one even layer on the baking tray, then set the tray to one side. Mama would be making baked pumpkin seeds out of them with the oven. 

 

It took a while to get all the guts out since the pumpkin was large, but finally it was clean. Himawari took up her nylon serrated knife and carefully fit the edge into the cut Mama had already made. She carefully sawed through the bored holes, keeping her cuts even and taking out the pieces when they got too big to cut around easily. Carving a toad was the best choice, she decided as she used a small tomato knife to get around a tricky corner, the fox design really really would have been too hard, especially with the pieces that needed to be peeled away instead of cut. Maybe next year, though! 

 

Finally the last piece was cut away, revealing the slightly jagged edges and nicks in the gourd that Himawari had cut in. She scrunched her nose in distaste - it wasn’t perfect like Inojin’s or Shikadai’s would be, but it was better than what Papa or Nii-chan usually managed. Still missing something though, and Himawari wanted to kick it to pieces because it wasn’t right. 

 

Then the door banged open, revealing a sweaty Nii-chan, “I’m home!”

 

“Welcome home Nii-chan!” Himawari tackled him into a hug, “Nii-chan, can we play? It’s Friday and you don’t have school until Monday so you have time to play with me, right?” She stared up at him, pleading. 

 

“Eh? But, I thought we were - ,” Nii-chan looked over and saw her pumpkin. “Awwww, you carved the pumpkin already? I  brought one home so we could carve it together.” He slumped, defeated. A pair of clones carry in another pumpkin, big and round and bright orange. 

 

Himawari looked over her pumpkin, cuts and nicks and places where her knife hadn’t cut properly along the lines, and decides it’s utterly lacking indeed. “That’s okay Nii-chan! We can carve the one you brought together!” 

 

Nii-chan ruffled her hair, and grinned. “Awesome! Whatcha wanna carve this one as?”  

  
Himawari didn’t know for sure, but she had a feeling  _ this _ pumpkin would be better than the last.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave a review if you're so inclined, I would love to hear how you find my Himawari. 
> 
> Come scream with me on tumblr at modernart2012.tumblr.com
> 
> I am multifandom trash


End file.
